A BARROW chef who attacked his girlfriend, knocking her unconscious and kicking her, has walked free from court.

Kevin Meehan, 23, left the woman with a broken collarbone and multiple cuts, bruises and a “gripping injury” after the incident at his home in Barrow.

Preston Crown Court heard he carried on kicking the woman as she was slumped unconscious in the porch, only stopping when his friends dragged him away.

Meehan, of Crellin Street, and his mother, who was sitting in the public gallery, sobbed throughout the hearing.

But sentencing him to two years, suspended for two years, Judge Jacqueline Beech, said: “I don’t think you appreciate the severity of what you have done.”

The court heard how on September 19 last year Meehan had invited friends round to his flat and had been drinking vodka and smoking cannabis.

But when an argument broke out between Meehan and his girlfriend, he pushed her repeatedly into the corner of the porch, causing her to stumble back and hit her head on the brick wall.

When the woman gave her witness statement to the police she could only recall seeing Meehan’s hands raised and coming round on the floor of the porch. However, another witness described seeing the chef kicking her.

Judge Beech said: “You still don’t accept using your foot to kick her caused the serious injuries she sustained. There can be no other explanation.

“The expressions of remorse on your part are tempered by your failure to own up to the extent of your violence. You appear to be big enough to beat a woman up, but you are not big enough to accept what you have done.”

In a victim statement read to the court, the woman said her relationship with Meehan had been marked by violence and abuse. She said: “He treated me no better than the dog” and added her attacker would also mete out violence towards his pet.

Meehan pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and has stopped smoking cannabis daily since the attack.

Judge Beech said: “You are a bully to women and your offending was mean and nasty. The court is in no doubt you are manipulative and controlling in relationships.

“It is clear you don’t have much respect for women who aren’t family members. It is by a hair’s breadth that I am going to suspend the two year sentence for two years.”

She ordered Meehan to carry out 350 hours of unpaid work, gave him a 12-months supervision order, and ordered him to pay a £100 surcharge and compensation to his victim.

She added: “You should learn not to behave in such a hideous and odious way towards women and perhaps it would be a good idea to stop kicking your dog as well.”